Mytha Rising

[EmKay]

It had been years since the Confederacy of Independent Systems had claimed Torolis. The Techno Union didn't even possess that world anymore. Yet still, there were debts that had never been paid in full. Commitments that hadn't been met. Rewards that hadn't been claimed. So here Asher was, taking what was offered to Atretes then forgotten. Many things from that life were forgotten, but in discovering old Templar artifacts, he remembered the old Templar life. With such memories, came the first time that Sigma had truly saved the young boy's life. That was during the time they fought a War Hydra. The time they won tooth and nail.

The time they found a nest. Discovered eggs. Laid claim to what was theirs.

So Valentine returned to Roon, to the original Templar Enclave, which was now a satellite installation to the Old Obsidian Citadel. The location that was, slowly but surely, being outmoded by bigger and better things. It was there, in the distance, in its craggy blue glow. He turned away and entered the fortified temple, passing a security checkpoint with little more than a wave of his hand. Not missing a beat of his stride, he walked through the corridors and chambers, following posted signs and his senses through the Force. What was he sensing? Something faint, yet familiar. Soon, he came up to a big door, marked with a restricted access sign. He pressed his hand to the scanner that read the Obsidian rings, and it took a moment to process. After it scanned what was likely years of data, the door hissed and slid open. Asher stepped in.

He was greeted with a scene he'd not expected from these guts of the old Templar Enclave. The walls were white-panelled and smelled sterile. The walls were lined with monitors, and where the screens stopped machinery began. All of these apparatus linked up to a central dome. This dome was comprised of a platform covered in more readings, lights, and sensors. Atop this platform was a padded cushion. Surrounding the cushion was a glasteel container, with tubes and wires coming out of it and hooking to the platform below it. It was an incubator... or perhaps a delay mechanism. Within this contraption, lay a pale grey egg with black flecks. That was strange. When he'd recovered it, it was pale yellow with orange flecks.

It didn't take long for his presence to catch attention. In the moments that the scientists didn't recognise him, they moved to usher him out of the laboratory. Then a few of them recognised who exactly he was, and not simply as Archon of the Order. They recognised his face, despite how it had hardened. They knew why he was here.

"Master Rhoujen?" came a quizzical voice.

"Nobody has called be that in a long, long time." Asher said, almost indignant.

The offending scientist was ushered away by his colleagues, and replaced by someone with more... tact. He stayed to the side as Valentine approached the incubation apparatus. His hand pressed against the transparent metal, and he could feel the thrum of Force energy cascading through the egg, tasting its presence. It was dark, yet innocent. A strange combination where the creature was born of the Dark Side, but knew not the sin that most sentient beings who wielded the Force would commit. It was nearly a contradictory existence, to be pure yet evil. Or was the Dark Side truly evil? Such debates were best kept for later discussion, for now he had a creature to attend to.

"Answer something for me," Asher said to none yet all of them, "Why has its appearance altered?"

"W-well you see," came a bit of a twitchy scientist, "W-we don't e-exactly kn-n-n-now. The lo-onger it st-tayed in stasis-s-s, the m-more it l-lost its c-colour."

Valentine nodded. Science had that effect. It changed things. Altered the way the universe worked. It was nearly a force of its own nature, one that could seduce the natural course from its path. This very egg was an example. It should have hatched ages ago, but they kept it dormant until it was claimed. Asher was stalling. Why? Everything he had done up to this point, from claiming lead of the Order, to absolving Verd of his crimes, everything had been done with such certainty. Drive. No hesitation. Was he afraid of this creature? It was merely a wyrm, not even grown past the size of a Kath Hound. He gritted his teeth and took a step away from the apparatus.

"Is it ready to open?" he asked.

"Sir, it has been ready for the years since you found it." came the reply.

Valentine nodded, mostly to himself, in affirmation of his choice. It was time.

"Do it."

 

[EmKay]

The incubator's heartbeat-like thrumming stopped. The tubes disconnected, and the workers capped the holes with durasteel mesh vents. Asher approached the pod and rested his palm against the transparent metal. He could feel its life, its presence in the Force again. He closed his eyes and reached out to the unhatched creature. He could have been forceful, he could have willed it on threats and evil, but while he was Dark he was no Sith. Instead, he preyed upon the same instincts that he'd used to manipulate Atretes. He called upon its will for freedom, upon its desire to be more. He gave it the promise that if it came out to thrive, he would guide it and aid it. Such words were lost on the unborn, but the feelings were present. The intent. He opened his eyes, still lidded from his concentration, and watched the unnaturally coloured shell.

The first crack came like a little tremor. It split down the middle of the shell and left a fine black line. Then another. Sigma encouraged the creature as the shell's cracks looked like some crazed web, then began to flake away. Soon, the shell had fallen away, and the little wriggling creature was struggling to get out of the membrane that housed it within the hard exterior. His eyes scanned the small creature. It was pale, that was what he first noticed. It wasn't albino, for it had black markings in the same style as its shell, but it was still an unusual thing. As it burst forth from the membrane, he realised that despite being a hydra, it only had one head. He crouched down to examine it, and beckoned it come closer. It caught his emotion and cautiously tiptoed over. Its head was odd. It was fluid enough, but there markings and characteristics of one side didn't match the other. It was as though the two heads of the hydra had... fused. It let out a warble, a baby roar, and he stood. He felt it through the Force, let his presence be known to it. He was powerful, but he would be fair to it. If it had any predisposition to fear him, it need only do so if it betrayed him. These were not spoken words through any manner of telepathy, but an exchange of senses and emotions. Put simply, he communicated with the animal as its own kind would.

He pressed a button and the seal on the dome released. He removed his hand and let the glasteel dome slip to the side. The little dragon reared up and watched Asher as Asher watched it. It came up to him, and he reached out his hand. It sniffed his finger and moved to snap, but a single, weak bolt of electricity reminded the creature of Sigma's will. It watched him, and he kept his expression calm. Not angry, or hostile, or happy and likeable. Simply calm. It wobbled on its feet, and Valentine held his hand out palm-up. The little reptile clambered up his arm, undeveloped claws pricking his skin, until it slunk around his shoulders and came to rest. He nodded slowly, and relaxed his shoulders.

"Thank you for your assistance, gentlemen. I'll be taking my leave." he told the baffled scientists, then turned on his heel.

With careful, measures strides he walked back to his ship. and stepped into the large cockpit of the Rassilon fighter. He wouldn't be able to take this creature with him after a couple of years, but until then he would need to train this creature to obey. When it grew up to be a mammoth of a beast, he would need to be able to truly control it. Perhaps he would learn those techniques of the Force that aided in such.

 

[EmKay]

Somewhere, on some remote planet that needn't bothered to be named, Asher set the small creature down on a rocky plateau. A cool breeze swept across the elevated surface, and Valentine sat with his new pet. Any creature could be trained without the Force -- it was simply a matter of time and patience -- but this creature was born of the Force. Even if its species' origin was tens of thousands of years in the past, this was the the legacy of that creature. As such, it needed to be treated with respect to its roots. It needed to be communicated with, it needed to be understood. Asher reached out to two fingers and touched it, and it let out a cute churr in response. It closed its acidic yellow eyes and Sigma closed his violet ones. He pressed his thoughts upon it, trying to break the threshold he'd already known he was restrained by. He tried to break the barriers of the ethereal mind and convey messages directly. He would start with perhaps the simplest ability he'd yet to learn. The art of telepathy.

"Can you hear me?" he inquired tentatively.

The little mutant hydra showed no signs that it did. He gritted his teeth and pressed harder against the binds of his mind. He needed to break free of his proverbial walls and allow himself to speak through nothing. He took a deep breath. Getting stressed out would only serve to distract him further. He took another deep breath and settled his mind, quelled his anxiety. While he worked with the Dark Side more frequently than the light, he still believed in self-discipline. He was an animal, but he was not feral. He then refocused his thoughts and concentrated back upon relaying a message to the creature before him. He pressed again against his mental barriers, probing and directing until he thought he found a break in the wall. A channel he could speak from. He tried again.

"CAN YOU HEAR ME!?" came the blast of telepathy.

The dragon squeaked and bounced back, and Asher's eyes popped open. He reached out to stroke and reassure the little creature before closing his eyes and focusing again. He reached through and found that conduit in his mind that allowed communication, and he settled himself before he attempted again.

"I'm sorry. I've never tried this before." he apologised to the hydra.

It let out a kind of purr and curled up on his leg. It understood him, or at least understood his emotions. He let his eyes slide open and he scratched under its tiny chin and stroked one of its leathery wings. He let out a sigh and simply let himself carry on in conversation to the creature, practising telepathic ability with the little hydra that probably couldn't even understand him. Maybe it would learn the language, having the words poured into its mind this way.